– Concerned about life and health – VG

The transport company warns that the bus strike affects several ambulances in the Oslo area. Furthermore, infection buses transporting infected and suspected infected people to and from their homes and the hospital must be affected by the strike.

– I am concerned about life and health, says the general director of the company Persontransport Norge AS, which has 40 minibuses in transit for the Department of Patient Travel and Ambulance of the Oslo University Hospital.

But despite concerns for life and health, NHO Transport will not request a strike waiver for the twelve relevant drivers.

The infection bus stays in the garage.

Persontransport Norge AS, which is headquartered in Oslo, has around fifty minibuses in operation, of which 40 provide transport to the Oslo University Hospital.

12 of the company’s 60 drivers have gone on strike, which, according to CEO Anders Bergh-Jacobsen, goes beyond medical transports.

– Every day we drive 200 to 250 trips to Oslo University Hospital, but as a result of the strike we are now only able to drive about 150 trips. The rest are canceled or delayed.

In addition, infected buses are affected, he explains.

– We have an agreement with Oslo University Hospital / Patient Travel at the VET center to drive corona-infected and possibly corona-infected people between home and hospital. Six of our minibuses function as infection buses, but due to the strike we don’t have enough drivers.

Bergh-Jacobsen explains that they have tried to avoid the infected buses, but that they miss a shift change every day. Therefore, one or more of the infection buses remain in the garage.

He is concerned about the consequences of the strike for the sick and the weak if this continues, and believes that it is reprehensible that these groups of people are thrown into conflict by the workers’ organization.

– I think there is a danger to life and health and I am concerned, says CEO Anders Bergh-Jacobsen.

– Have you thought about requesting a strike waiver for these drivers?

– We have discussed this with Jon Stordrange at NHO Transport, but he said it takes a lot to apply for a waiver so we haven’t.

– We solve this in a few hours if necessary

Fellesforbundet leader Jørn Eggum doesn’t see the problem.

– This is a company with 61 employees. They also have other operations besides pure ambulance transport. Therefore, the elimination of 12 of the 61 employees should, in principle, pose no problem.

And if it remains problematic, Eggum believes the company should request a strike waiver for the drivers in question.

– As far as we understand, it is a man-day that the company says is missing to send potential patients with crown. If the company finds it problematic and sees a real danger to life and health, it can ask us for a waiver. We solve this in a few hours if necessary, says Eggum.

Refuses to request strike waiver

The leader of the employers’ organization NHO Transport, Jon Stordrange, tells VG that they will not request a strike waiver for the twelve drivers who normally drive medical transport.

– No, there is a very high threshold to request a waiver once someone has been struck. The employee side must take responsibility for this, says Stordrange.

– The managing director, who is a member of NHO Transport, says that he is concerned about life and health if the strike continues, and at the same time says that he has advised him not to request a waiver.

– It is the workers’ organization that chooses who is going to strike. If we grant a dispensation, we dilute the entire sense of the right to strike. We must respect the withdrawal made by employees.

Stordrange emphasizes that the drivers in question should not have gone on strike.

– The Fellesforbundet must take responsibility for this, he says.

Fellesforbundet leader Jørn Eggum rejects:

– We even understand that NHO Transport does not play roulette with human life. When Stordrange does not recommend that the company apply for a waiver, the situation cannot be very serious either, Eggum tells VG.